Leonard Kleinrock
Engineer
Notable for his development of key elements of computer networking theory, this longtime University of California, Los Angeles professor is particularly their for his work on queueing theory. He was a 2007 recipient of the National Medal of Science and a 2012 winner of the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal.
After earning a bachelor's degree from the City College of New York, he continued his study of computer science and electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating with a PhD in the early 1960s.
His 1970s hierarchical routing research was very important in the development of the modern internet.
He grew up in a Jewish family in New York City and later relocated to Boston, Massachusetts and Los Angeles, California.
One of Kleinrock's computer science doctoral students at UCLA was future professional poker player Chris Ferguson.